My Dell 1920R UPS popped; potential replacements are Dell 2700R or APC SMX3000RMHV2U

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Benoire

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#282625 2-Mar-2021 11:24

Hi

My current Dell 1920R ups popped and had a lovely smell indicating the power board has a blown something somewhere. I have the opportunity to get a replacement 2700R for $600NZD including new batteries or an APC SMX3000RMHV2U without batteries and purchase replacements at ~$550NZD; so $600 for the 2700R or ~$800NZD for the APC SMX3000RMHV2U.

The question is, is it worth paying the extra for the APC with new batteries or is the Dell 2700R sufficient given it has new batteries too and I already have rails to support it. The UPS supports my homelab of vSAN enabled VMware hosts, synology NAS, Unifi swithes and router, and the fibre internet ONT.

I have historically used the NAS with a hosted VM to control the Dell UPS so that it can run scripts to shutdown the vSAN safely but don't know how the APC can work with vmware... does its webgui have automatic control or does it still need seperate software to control hosts/vms?

These are used products so I don't have high expectations around the quality or warrenty but I am more interested in the whether the cost diferences are worth it.

Thanks,

Chris

Dynamic

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#2666807 2-Mar-2021 15:16

I believe APC make Dell UPS products https://blog.se.com/datacenter/2014/05/28/apc-dell-relationship-takes-another-step-forward-reseller-agreement/. Before that it was Eaton which is also a solid brand, and HPE UPS are rebadged Eaton units. I'd like to think either would give you a good result. Perhaps consider the age of thw two models.... a newer model may have better battery management technology to make the batteries last longer.

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Benoire

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#2666831 2-Mar-2021 16:28

Thanks Dynamic, yeah I believe APC did and still do... I guess a UPS is quite a simple system really and its only the webgui monitoring side that changes along with the BMS improvements. APC would allow powerchute where as the dell is old design or I could power by a RPi with NUT and a webgui front end...

Still wondering how much difference the later APC adds to the Dell and whether its worth spending a little more on.. its a 2u unit where was hte Dell is a 3u (but I have spare cells now for the Dell due to my current unit popping).

Dynamic

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#2666832 2-Mar-2021 16:30

Would the 3U allow for more batteries, and a longer run time? This may or may not be desirable.... more batteries = more $ to have to replace every now and then.

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Benoire

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#2666836 2-Mar-2021 16:36

its got 2 more batteries than the 1920R same size, so 9ah 12v. The APC uses 6 larger ones and while in the UK you can get replacement batteries for ~$200NZD, you can only buy the branded APC caddy with complete batteries for ~600NZD... The Dell appears to take ones you can you buy online so might be more replaceable longer term.

Benoire

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#2667192 3-Mar-2021 10:22

Interestingly the Dell has a higher wattage capacity, 8 batteries at 9AH / 12v where as the APC is 10 batteries at 5.5AH / 12V; so about 200wh extra capacity... at full load from the lab that's an extra 30 minutes of run time. The Dell integration is old where as the APC has built in vmware support within the management card but rpi with nut and vwmare scripts can do something similar... still not really sure what to go with... The Dell is fully formed for the price where as the APC requires new batteries at around $400 for me to install.. price difference ends up being $50 in favour of the Dell with a higher capacity...

Any definitive thoughts about a more modern UPS vs older for homelab use?

Chris